It is almost 15 years since Mr Caulfield’s  first foray into documenting Australia’s war history on film, first through the award-winning Australians At War television series and more recently the Australians at War Film Archive, commissioned by the Australian government.

He said many of the hundreds of diggers he interviewed were  reluctant to tell their story.

“Many of them really didn’t want to open up until it was near to the end of their life,” he said.

“How could they tell their family and others about the terrible things they had seen in war?”

During this commemoration year Mr Caulfield is encouraging people to look deeper into people’s motivation to go to war.

“We have a tendency to glorify war in our contemporary society and sometimes put a gloss on it. This was something that, during my interviews with vets over the years, made them quite cross, the way some of the media give a superficial treatment of war experience.”

He said many young men from across Australia did not want to go to war, but were shamed into it.

He said many young men were frightened at the prospect of going off to war.

“Others wanted to escape relationships, while in contrast many felt an incredible loyalty to England,” he said.

A conscientious objector himself during the Vietnam War, Mr Caulfield said he had heard many poignant and tragic stories since working in the field of war history.

“Many of the veterans I spoke to were very much anti-war,” he said.

He remains in awe of their sacrifice and supports a push for Orange to honour Private John Hamilton who was born in Orange and received a Victoria Cross for his actions at Gallipoli.

“In every town and city across Australia that is the birthplace of a Victoria Cross winner their is some tangible memorial to them,” he said.

Mr Caulfield will officially open Victor Gordon’s memorate.com.au exhibition at Orange Regional Gallery on Friday night.

janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au